Pakistan's top-order batting is considered their strength in white-ball cricket, but it has led to series defeats during the last two ODIs. They were reduced to 26 for 4 in Cardiff on Thursday, while play had yet to begin; At Lord's on Saturday, he scored 36 for 3 and then 53 for 4.
Some mitigating factors can be thrown away charitably. No surface has been a surface we have become used to in England's ODIs, where 320 is just par. And Saqib Mahmood's opening has been excellent in both the matches. But against all intents and purposes, the real shadow should not be England's attacking top-order hopes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and an in-form Fakhar Zaman as they did. Not two matches in a row.
Pakistan's bowling may have been in vain, but it was not the bowling that lost them, as Hasan Ali pointed out. "Faheem [Ashraf] and Haris [Rauf] bowled a little short and maybe even outside the stumps," he added. "In every match, some players perform and we couldn't do that today. But 300 is a par score in ODIs and we restricted them to 250, we are back in the game. But unfortunately we fell and We couldn't get the partnership going. As a bowling unit, well, we conceded a few runs, but still we kept them at 250, so as a bowling unit I think we did well.
He said, "We have coaches here, they know what mistakes they are making. But don't forget that the same batsmen have done a lot for Pakistan recently. We have played well in a few series before this. Our The top order has scored runs." Earlier, South Africa, Fakhar, Babar, Rizwan all scored runs there. Unfortunately they couldn't do that and that's where we lost both the matches."
Every surface is different, but Pakistan can hardly blame unfamiliarity for these blasts. Although they came here directly from the United Arab Emirates, where they were playing on slower, lower surfaces during the PSL, this is the sixth consecutive summer that they have come to England, and except for one, they have played white-ball cricket. .
"Yes, it's been six years since we arrived, but we play most of our cricket in Asia and recently in the UAE with the PSL," Ali said. "Circumstances matter and the ball seams here. It has caused us difficulties as a batting unit."
Ali's own day was the exact opposite of his team's day. He picked up a five-wicket haul, the first ODI in more than four years, a veritable return to the format in which he established his reputation in his first two years of international cricket. This was his fifth five-wicket haul in international cricket this year alone, marking a spectacular comeback in the previous Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
His three-wicket overs brought England to 160 for 7 and after taking the third of them - his fourth over for the day - he had four overs left. In this incident he only bowled one more before being replaced.
"I spoke to Babar because I bowled three overs [in that spell] and then we decided to switch bowlers," he said. "Faheem had overs left, so did Haris. We discussed that we wouldn't use some of those overs, but the ball stopped seaming."
He smashed 31 runs in 17 balls with the help of three consecutive sixes off Matt Parkinson, although till that stage of the innings, his efforts were not at risk. Although he regretted it.
"Yes, if I had stayed and didn't lose my wicket, the situation could have been a little different. I tried to put England on the back foot with my hitting, but unfortunately I didn't succeed. Had I stayed, it would have been different. Could have. But yes sorry because we have lost both the matches one after the other.